Remembrance

September 11, 2001.  a bright blue sky, brilliant sunshine.  A glorious morning to be alive!  That's exactly what I thought to myself when I headed off to work.  I was still in the driveway when the car radio reported a plane had crashed into one of the World Trace Center buildings.  With a vision of a private Cessna (did the pilot have a heart attack?) I ran back into the house to turn on the TV.  My immediate concern was for my brother-in-law, and a friend and others who worked "right there."  Is there anyone who cannot remember where you were or what you were doing on that day when the world fell apart?


     This blog's title, "no roads lead back" and the full quote (see our "How did we get here from there" page) poignantly describes in a few words,  how the world dramatically and drastically changed a decade ago.  My daughter was in the 5th grade, taking a test when news broke.  Her school's administration and teachers were all in alert/protect mode, trying to keep the news away from the children...except one of Chandler's classmates was returning from a dentist appointment, and broadcast the news to the class.  Her teacher cancelled the test and noted on each student's blank test:  "Our nation is being tested.  We are being tested.  America will pass with flying colors!"
      
     Such a heartfelt expression...a few lines of encouragement during extreme uncertainty.  How do we stay calm and reassuring for our children when we are the ones needing hugs and hand-holding?  We couldn't sleep at night, and life seemed so dark and bleak.  Ten years ago the nation mourned.  But life has amazingly continued on...and faster than we could have imagined at the time. Those eager 5th graders are now juniors in college with much ahead of them.


         This week...full of remembrances everywhere;  in the media, at a pastoral meadow in Pennsylvania, in the nation's capital outside the Pentagon, and in New York, where a city's heart was ripped out.  The Sept 11 Memorial at the site of what was once ground zero promises to be a serene, reverent place to reflect.  This week....the mornings have been touched by a delightful change in the weather; full of glorious sunshine and bright blue skies...and we carry on.